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Maiden Voyage of MSC Seaside – Venice to Miami

Join 4* MSC Seaside on her maiden voyage as she cruises from Venice, through the Mediterranean, crossing the Atlantic, touring the Caribbean before reaching her new home in Miami.

This amazing once in a lifetime cruise departs Venice, Italy and visits Messina in Sicily, Mallorca, Barcelona and Cadiz in Spain, Funchal (Maderia) in Portugal before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the exotic Caribbean Sea visiting Philipsburg (St. Maarten), Charlotte Amalie (Virgin Island), San Juan (Puerto Rico), and finally finishing in Miami where you will enjoy an extra night in a 4* Miami hotel (room only).

Join 4* MSC Seaside on her maiden voyage as she cruises from Venice, through the Mediterranean, crossing the Atlantic, touring the Caribbean before reaching her new home in Miami.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to cruise from Europe on MSC’s fabulous new 4* Seaside as following this cruise she will be permanently home-ported in Miami.

Flight Times:

OUTBOUND

Times To Follow

RETURN

Times to Follow

Day to Day Itinerary:

Day 1: Venice, Italy: Depart 23.58

On arrival in Venice, you will be transferred to the port to board MSC Seaside. The ship departs into the Mediterranean in the evening, setting sail for your first port of call.

Day 2:At Sea:

Day 3: Messina, Sicily, Italy: Arrive 12.00 Depart 20.00

Messina may well be your first sight of Sicily, and it’s a fine one, the glittering town spread up the hillside beyond its sickle-shaped Mediterranean harbour.

On a shore excursion you can discover Messina’s most important monument, the Duomo, which epitomizes the city’s phoenix-like ability to re-create itself from the ashes of its last disaster. It’s the reconstruction of a twelfth-century cathedral erected by Roger II, one of a series of great Norman churches of Sicily that include the sumptuous cathedrals of Palermo and Cefalù. The Duomo’s detached campanile, or bell tower, claims to be the largest astronomical clock in the world, and puts on its best show at noon every day, when a bronze lion (Messina’s ancient emblem) unleashes a mighty roar over the city that can be quite alarming if you’re not expecting it!

Day 4: At Sea:

Day 5: Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Arrive 09.00 Depart 23.55

Palma is a vibrant place and a world away from the heaving tourist enclaves of the surrounding bay.

Five hundred years in the making, Palma’s Catedral is a magnificent building and a surprising one, too, with its interior featuring modernista touches designed by Antoni Gaudí. The original church was built following the Christian reconquest of the city, and the site taken, in fulfilment of a vow by Jaume I, was that of the Moorish Great Mosque. Essentially Gothic, with massive exterior buttresses to take the weight off the pillars within, the church derives its effect through its sheer height, impressive from any angle but startling when glimpsed from the waterside esplanade.

Day 6: Barcelona, Spain: Arrive 10.00 Depart 18.00

Barcelona – Spain’s second city, and the self-confident capital and port of Catalunya – vibrates with life, and there’s certainly not another city in the country to touch it for sheer style, looks or energy.

A holiday in Barcelona can start with the Ramblas, and then dive straight into the medieval nucleus of the city, the Barri Gòtic. But there are plenty of other central old-town neighbourhoods to explore too, from La Ribera – home to the celebrated Museu Picasso – to funky El Raval, where cool bars, restaurants and boutiques have mushroomed in the wake of the striking contemporary art museum, MACBA.

Day 7: At Sea:

Day 8: Cadiz, Spain: Arrive 08.00 Depart 18.00

Cádiz is among the oldest settlements in Spain and one of the country’s principal ports.

The Museo de Cádiz, the province’s most important, overlooks the leafy Plaza de Mina and incorporates the archaeological museum on the ground floor with many important finds and artefacts from the city’s lengthy history. Almost irresistible, even if you don’t normally go for High Baroque, is the attraction of the huge and seriously crumbling eighteenth-century Catedral Nueva.

Cádiz is one of Spain’s top holiday cruise destinations for its cathedral, too, decorated entirely in stone, with no gold in sight, and in absolutely perfect proportions. On the edge of the Barrio del Populo, the city’s oldest quarter dating from the Middle Ages, lies the “old” or original cathedral, Santa Cruz.

Day 9: At Sea:

Day 10: Funchal, Madeira, Portugal: Arrive 08.00 Depart 17.00

As you arrive in Funchal your ship will cast anchor in a bay protected by mountains rising straight up behind the port. The name, Funchal, derives from that of the fennel plant, the funcho still used today in the traditional sweets known as rebuçados de funcho, that one can find anywhere on the island of Madeira.

An excursion will take you around the town centre, to visit historic churches, from the A Sé Cathedral, with its inlaid ceiling, to the majestic Church of the Incarnation, to the church of Carmo without a vault.

Day 11-15: At Sea:

Day 16: Philipsburg, St. Maarten: Arrive 08.00 Depart 18.00

During your cruise in the Caribbean Sea, after disembarking from your cruise ship in the Dutch port of Philipsburg and visiting the Court House, the heart of the city (a white and blue building dating to 1793 that now serves as the Post Office), don’t miss out on an excursion to the French side of the island.
Marigot, the capital of Saint Martin located on the island’s western coast, is protected by the great lagoon of Simpson Bay. It has retained the atmosphere of late 17th century, when it was founded. It is worth your while to visit its historical centre, which is crowded with wooden houses dotted with delightful shops.

A cruise to the U.S. Virgin Islands means entering the small constellation of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John. If you travel with an MSC cruise ship, you will disembark at Charlotte Amalie, the capital with streets and places still bearing Danish names.

While you enjoy your holiday in the Antilles, you should take a pleasant stroll through the city and discover its gems.
From Government Hill, head to Lille Tarne Gade, which means the street of the little tower in Danish: with its 99 steps, it is probably the most important stepped street of those built by the Danish from bricks used by European ships as ballast.

Day 18: San Juan, Puerto Rico: Arrive 08.00 Depart 02.00

San Juan is one of the world’s top cruise ship destinations, with most of the pleasure boats docking at the port by the old town.
As recently as the 1970s, Old San Juan (Viejo San Juan) was a reminder of better times, a run-down collection of Spanish colonial relics, in little better shape than the collapsed empire that constructed them. Now, however, after extensive and careful restoration, this seven-block-square area is considered one of the best-kept troves of Spanish colonial architecture and has become a World Heritage Site.

Day 19-20: At Sea:

Day 21: Miami, USA: Arrive 07.00

On arrival in Miami you will be transferred to your 4* hotel. The rest of the day is yours to explore Miami.

Day 22: Miami, USA:

After your overnight stay you will be met at the hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight back to Dublin.

Enjoy the sunshine on a waterfront promenade

MSC Seaside will lead the way for a new generation of MSC cruise ships with revolutionary architecture and cutting-edge technology.

MSC Seaside will bring guests closer to the sea with connecting inside and outside public spaces and a unique waterfront promenade that wraps right around the 323-metre ship, offering a panoply of places to shop, eat and sunbathe while panoramic lifts providing breathtaking sea views.

In addition, MSC Seaside will offer one of the largest and most interactive Aquaparks at Sea. She will be the first cruise ship to feature Slide boarding technology, combining a slide and an interactive game that is the cutting edge of water park technology, ensuring unrivalled fun for all ages.